Having a baby while immersed in a giant tub of warm water may have once been seen as a radical practice, but water births are going mainstream and two hospitals in Broward County have now embraced the option.

Broward Health, formerly Broward General Medical Center, recently joined Broward Health Coral Springs in providing the option to those who favor an alternative childbirth but still want the security of being in a hospital facility. Coral Springs has allowed them since 1998.

Advocates of water birth say that it helps relax the muscles, making the pain more manageable and, in many cases, helping the labor process move along more quickly. It's even covered by health insurance these days.

"The media and our culture tell us childbirth is scary and dangerous, but really birth is a normal physiological event. Women can learn to work with their bodies. That's what we support, we are there to support them throughout," said Vivian Keeler, a certified doula, or childbirth assistant, at Amazing Births and Beyond in Hollywood.

Water birth came into the limelight in 2008 with the Ricki Lake-produced documentary "The Business of Being Born" that shows her giving birth at home in water after having had a bad experience in a hospital the first time around.

"Now, with a hospital option for those more comfortable in a hospital setting, it has exploded — doubled at least," said Keeler, who has been a certified doula for 12 years and a chiropractic physician for 26 years.

Jennifer Goldman, of Plantation, herself a family physician, was the first woman to have a water birth at Broward Health Medical. "It is phenomenal and very rewarding," she said.

She owes the experience to the efforts of her doctor, Delisa Skeete Henry, whose practice is based at Broward Health and who helped initiate the program at the hospital last August.

"It's so rewarding to see moms have a sense of accomplishment," said Skeete.

Skeete said women who give birth in water all seem empowered by the experience. New moms walk away confident and this transfers to the kind of mother they will be, she said.

After two hospital deliveries, the first of which ended in a cesarean section, Goldman knew she wanted to attempt the most natural childbirth possible "The third time I decided I wanted to have the kind of birth I always wanted," she said.

Nearing the end of her pregnancy, she began to weigh her delivery options.

"I didn't think I would be able to do it at Broward General," said Goldman. "It wasn't until the last few weeks that I asked Dr. Skeete and Vivian and found out they had just put a program in place."

Water births have traditionally taken place at home or in alternative birthing centers, handled by a midwife, who provides all the prenatal care, and a doula who is present during the entire labor process to provide physical and emotional support.

But Goldman had been happy with the care she had received previously at the hospital and opted to return. "I had such an amazing experience with my first two babies, even though they were so different," she said.

She also opted to stick with Skeete."I felt so close to my doctor, and I wanted her to have the experience as well. It was her first [water delivery] as well," she said.

Goldman's labor lasted five hours, as compared with a previous labor of 27 hours, and she credits the water with easing the discomfort and contractions.

According to Skeete, if a mother gets into the tub at the right time, it can indeed facilitate the labor. She said data supports the benefits of hydrotherapy in childbirth.

Childbirth professionals say more and more women are seeking the less invasive methods in hopes of providing a drug-free experience for themselves and their child.

"It's all about options and choices. Women should make the choice of what's best for them. It's not for everyone," said prenatal clinical specialist Shelia Love.

Love, who works at Broward Health, often alongside Skeete, says water delivery gives women the sense of control and higher level of intimacy during their childbirth experience that has been lost with modern medicine.